Question for Sean M.

[dwbarnett]

Hello Sean, I saw were you mentioned running 16 strands of 150 pixels on your megatree.

I was not very happy with my strips, very fragile...looking to going to pixels.  The strips I had were 5m and 150 pixels.

How tall is your meag with the 150 pixels. Is it one complete strand of 150.ie custom, or did you solder three strands of 50 pix together.  What is the spacing on your pixels?

Thanks for your info.   

Best,
David

[jnealand]

Not Sean, but I also gave up on my pixel tree that used strips.  Now I have 3 pixel trees using Boscoyo Studio node mounting strips.  My tallest is about 19ft including the star.  I am running 18 strands of 61 using 3" spacing.  I connect 2 together for 9 strings of 122 nodes.  Works and looks great.  On that tree I am connected to a Falcon F16v1 using 10 of 16 connections and using two 12v power supplies.  My other two trees are 16 strands of 30 also using Boscoyo Studio node mounting strips at 3" spacing.

[babybear]

Im on the other fence. yes the odd ball I just my mega tree with strips. Knowing that they are fragile I have mounted them to aluminum t angle. zip tied every other cut line and the ends I embedded in a glob of silicone caulk. I will be using the same system to outline my house this season. in the pix the threaded rod is what holds the spacing.   

[dwbarnett]

Thanks Guys. Not exactly helpful to my question.  I'm trying to get a handle on some changes to my show. I would like to get some info, so I can possibly meet some of the pre-sales.

If anyone familiar with Sean's layout could answer, it would be appreciated.

I need to know how many pixels to order, do I make it a custom order, spacing, length etc.
Also, may go to the Falcon V2 controller.

Need to know how many of those I may need to purchase, for a 24-32 pixel strand tree. But, I'm also trying to achieve the density I had with my 150 pixel ribbons.

Need to determine, if I need to get some custom stuff setup from Boscoyo, will not use Holiday Coro anymore.

Just trying to figure out my limitations on power,controllers, pixels/strand...I think you get the idea.

Will probably use my strips in a matrix, instead of the mega tree.

For once I really would like to be ready  earlier in the season.

Again, any help appreciated.

Best,
David

[mararunr]

your max sounds like it's 150 nodes times 32 strands which means you need 4,800 pixels (that's 96 50 node strings).  150 node strip is approximately 1.3" spacing where as nodes are normally around 4" spacing, so unless you want to zip tie the wires to get the desired spacing, yes you will need to order custom strings OR yes, you can get boscoyo node mounting strips and just pop the nodes into each hole.
The limitation on power depends on whether you use 5v or 12v pixels.  Best just to set up a spreadsheet (or grab one of the many in posts here on the forum) and do some calculations.  There are several posts that talk about the different power requirements for 12v and 5v.  This will also bring you to the dilemma of power injection or not power injecting (I'm a power injection person myself).
Highly recommend getting a F16v2 controller, but at this point I know I'm biased.  You could also get an Alphapix, SanDevice, Advatek, or J1sys - the choice is yours.
I might suggest, you also draw out what you want and then figure what works best for you and your budget.  All of your questions have been answered most likely if you use the search tool on here, or over on falconchristmas.com, or doityourselfchristmas.com, or auschristmaslighting.com.  Auschristmaslighting.com even has a fabulous 101 manual that many of us started out reading and still reference when we need it.
You can also PM Sean, his userid is smeighan, however there are several of us on here more than willing to help.
Hope this helps you, mv

[plaberge]

I'm not Sean either but did I build my 24x120 megatree three years ago essentially copying Sean's design that you can find at http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=10714.0. I used 4m TM1809 strips mounted on EMT, which creates a tree slightly over 13ft tall + a 30 inch corostar topper. The pixels are 1 in apart and individually addressable.

I too have had no end of trouble with the original TM1809 strips that I bought from from Ray Wu. The replacement ones that he has sent me seem reliable - none have failed yet. Folks are also building their trees using WS2811 strips. I use them on my chimney matrix, and they seem very reliable. I don't particularly like that three pixels are controlled by the same chip - in my case that would give me a resolution of 40 vs 120. It works on my chimney matrix which is far away from the viewer but isn't so great on my tree which is close up.

If you are interested in other designs, there are a few more ideas at http://diylightanimation.com/index.php?topic=13323.msg173951#msg173951

[nzlongfellow]

I have 24 strands of 5m pixels strips of 30/m. 3rd years in. Only had small water damage to 3 strands at the bottom as tops were not properly covered. I fixed the strip to 1/2" plastic conduit by wrapping with electrical tape in a spiral fashion. Tape puts no contact pressure on strip like cable ties do, if not installed properly.
I have looked at pixels, I have most of my models made with pixels, but if anything I would personally go with 60/m pixel strip next time.

[sean]

I am sean. my newest tree has (16) 17' 1/2" emt pipe with ws2811 flex strips. Since i can get flex strips at about half the cost of nodes , i like them. I also like that i can remove any section in about 15 seconds if i need to make repairs. Maybe the steel poles help keep the lights from flexing but i have mot had many errors. 2 of the 1804 flex strips failed in the last 4 years. No failures in ws2811's so far. I order 20% more flex strips in case i need a repair


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[RoboMello]

I am sean. my newest tree has (16) 17' 1/2" emt pipe with ws2811 flex strips. Since i can get flex strips at about half the cost of nodes , i like them. I also like that i can remove any section in about 15 seconds if i need to make repairs. Maybe the steel poles help keep the lights from flexing but i have mot had many errors. 2 of the 1804 flex strips failed in the last 4 years. No failures in ws2811's so far. I order 20% more flex strips in case i need a repair


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Hello Sean,

How do you fix the strips?

Thanks

[sean]

cable ties over the sections that separate sections.

[dwbarnett]

Thanks Sean, didn't realize you were using strips.  Look forward to the seminar.

Best,
David